How Animals Are Used In Marketing

Artificial animals are everywhere

Take one walk down the high street and you’ll be surrounded by animals. Not real animals, mind you. But depictions of animals in the marketing that surrounds you.

The “Hello Kitty” kitten in the shop window. The big fluffy “Charmin” bear. The little blue bird that appears when you open Twitter on your smartphone. The rooster on the box of “Corn Flakes”. The small silver Jaguar on the front of Jaguar cars. The two red bulls on the front of a can of “Red Bull”.

We’re surrounded by images of animals. I bet you never noticed that before did you? Next time you walk through the city, or watch TV, or scroll through your social media news feed; pay attention and you’ll see them everywhere.

So why do we see images of animals everywhere? Because they’re an excellent marketing tool. Animals were present in our evolutionary environment, so our brain connects with them deeply. The Biophilia Hypothesis tells us that humans are genetically predisposed to seek connections with nature. Animals are a great way to use our evolutionary impulses to seek connections with nature to cut through noise in our highly artificial modern day environment.

It’s every marketer’s goal to make an emotional connection with their target audience. However, this is…